


it’s nice to have a friend

by greeneggsandsam



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, The core four, Unrequited Love, continuing my streak of taylor swift lyrics for titles, or is it 👀, set after the first movie, talking about feelings, the gang just bein pals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:34:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24501691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggsandsam/pseuds/greeneggsandsam
Summary: Set a few weeks after D1. Mal and Evie think Jay likes Carlos. Spoiler: they’re right.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Jay/Carlos de Vil
Comments: 11
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

“So you like Carlos.” 

Jay stared at the girls sitting in front of him, eyes wide and mouth agape. Mal was sitting cross-legged on her bed and Evie had turned her desk chair to face Jay. He was still leaning against the door in his tourney jersey, having been all but abducted by his best friends after practice and dragged to their room. 

“Mal!” Evie admonished with a light slap on Mal’s leather-clad shoulder. “What happened to subtly steering the conversation?” 

“Jay doesn’t know the meaning of the word subtlety. We’d have been here all day, and I have shit to do.”

“Well...okay, that’s probably true.”

“Hey!” Jay cut in, waving his hands at the girls. “Look I don’t know why you thought...I mean, I don’t...Carlos?!” He gave a wild little laugh. “What?! I don’t even...he’s….I’m….you’re, you’re wrong.”

The girls simply stared at him, unimpressed. Mal with one dark eyebrow raised, Evie with her lips pressed together and her head tilted sympathetically. Jay held out for an admirable six seconds before letting out a groan and sliding down the wall, head buried in his hands.

“How did you know?” His words were slightly muffled through his hands.

“We know you.” Mal replied. “We noticed you’ve been acting super weird around Carlos.”

“Oh, shit. Do you think he’s noticed?”

“No!”

“Yes.”

Mal and Evie replied simultaneously. Jay squinted at Mal. “You couldn’t have lied to make me feel better?”

“Have we met?” 

“Anyway…” Evie spoke up, knowing Mal and Jay could bicker (lovingly) for hours. She leaned forward and propped her head on her hands excitedly. “When did it start?” 

“Well,” Jay shifted uncomfortably. “I mean, I guess when we were like...14?”

“What?!” Mal sat up straight and lobbed a pillow in Jay’s direction. “And you never told us?!” 

“Look, you know how it was back on the Isle! No one really…. ‘dated’, and besides, I didn’t want to make it weird in the gang. So I just….”

“Pushed it down.” Evie finished. It was what they had all done on the Isle—when you felt something soft, or vulnerable, you simply pretended it wasn’t there. 

“Right. But then we came here, and then we decided to  _ stay _ here, and it….I mean, him and me….it started to seem like more of a….possibility.” He looked up from where he had been staring at the pillow at Mal and Evie, who were watching him, understanding him. It was so strange to come to a place where people cared openly for each other, where they were nice and expected nothing in return, where they enjoyed themselves without looking over their shoulders. It was even stranger to realize they were allowed to act like that too. 

“And I panicked! Because if…. if ‘dating’ is a real possibility then I can  _ actually _ ask him out! And he can  _ actually _ say no! And then I’ll lose my best friend and ruin everything, and then I’ll have to ask Mal to turn me into a cat.” 

“Why a cat?” Evie inquired. Mal gave her a look. “Oh. Not the point. Right.” Mal redirected her gaze towards Jay, who had gone back to looking at the pillow. 

“That could happen.”

He looked up at her, meeting her eyes.

“ _ Or…. _ he likes you back. And you date. And you have passionate, kinky sex in your dorm room.” Evie giggled. “I bet Carlos is into something  _ weird _ shit.” 

“Oh yeah, it’s always the quiet ones.” 

“Guys!” Jay said. His cheeks were reddening, which had never been known to happen when talking about sex. 

“Look,” Mal said seriously, “As someone who has recently submitted themselves to the mortifying ordeal of being known….it sucks.”

“Great!” Jay said, flashing her a sarcastic, toothy smile. “ _ But _ ,” she pressed on, “it’s….worth it. If it works, it’s really, really worth it.” 

There was a moment of silence. They had never spoken like this, so honestly, back on the Isle. It was still new, still a little awkward. 

“So….” Jay broke the silence hesitantly. “You think I should….ask him out?”

“Yes!” Evie replied. “I mean you guys are always together anyway. You have fun together, right? You’re….comfortable, around him.” 

Jay tried and failed to hide a smile. Yeah, he was comfortable with Carlos. Yeah they had fun together. That easy, funny time they spent together was so important to him. And he was terrified of losing it. 

He opened his mouth to try to express this—it was a relief to finally talk about his feelings for Carlos—and instead came out with “Ow!” as the door he was leaning on was pushed forward. He stumbled to his feet and turned around to see the subject of their conversation. His heart leapt into his throat—why did he have to  _ look _ like that? Carlos was sporting a black button up shirt, white pants, and a bright red sheep’s wool jacket (he had discovered the material and fallen in love—all the aesthetic and actually helping animals). And freckles. Which he always had, of course, and Jay never got used to. Jay thought he might go crazy if he looked at him for another second. So he attacked him. 

“Learn to knock, asshole!”

“Oh, apologies, your majesty!” Carlos didn’t miss a beat, wrestling Jay to the ground as was their routine greeting. “Going full native, huh?” He put on a ‘prince’ voice that sounded a lot like Chad. “ _ Oh, don’t come in without knocking, I might be planning a ball!”  _ By the time Carlos reached the end of his impression they were both laughing, and the laughter continued as Carlos jumped up from the floor and offered Jay a hand. Jay took it ( _ for evil’s sake, his hands are so small, and there are freckles even there, and his nail polish matches his jacket and why in the hell does that turn him on?)  _ and pulled himself up. 

“What are you guys doing in here? Is there another evil plot I should know about?” Carlos asked, setting his bag down and sitting on the bed next to Mal. 

“Hey!” Mal replied, mock-offended. “We’re good now, remember? All we do is bake cookies and volunteer and help people find true love.” On this last phrase her eyes met Jay’s and he glared. Carlos laughed. “Let’s not go too far, M.” 

“Yeah,” Evie agreed, “I’m not volunteering unless I get money for it.” 

“That’s just work, E.” Mal said. 

“I just wanted to hang out after tourney.” Jay responded to Carlos’s original question. “I can only spend so long with Chad, y’know?” He laughed awkwardly at his own joke, stoutly avoiding eye contact with Carlos. “But, uh, I’m gonna go, uh, shower. Now. I’m gonna, gonna go now, so. Bye.” He left abruptly, cursing himself. 

Carlos raised his eyebrows and looked at the girls. “Has he been acting weird lately?” Mal and Evie exchanged quick glances. 

“I think it’s all just a little new, y’know?” Evie said, and Mal quickly agreed. 

“Yeah! Yeah, y’know, staying here, being on a team with heroes and princes…. it’s a little surreal.”

“That’s for damn sure.” Carlos said, reaching for his bag. Mal and Evie let out a breath. “E, you wanna do that physics homework together?”

“That’s a very kind way of asking if I need help. And yes, I do!” Evie was a natural with physics, but the teacher was a dick, so she preferred going to Carlos or Doug if she had questions. 

Carlos laughed and pulled up a chair at Evie’s desk. Mal looked at him for a minute. Big eyes, cute freckles, full lips. “Yeah,” She said out loud, “Yeah, I could see it.” She glanced over at Evie, who had been giving Carlos the same appraising look. “Totally.” Evie said, smirking. 

“What? What are you guys talking about?” Carlos asked, glancing between them.

“Nothing!” They sang in unison before busying themselves—Evie with her homework, Mal with her sketchbook. Carlos looked at both of them once more before joining Evie with the physics problems.  _ Girls.  _

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s a misunderstanding.

Carlos was worried. He kept thinking about what Mal and Evie had said; Jay was having trouble adjusting to Auradon.  _ That  _ was why he’d been acting so strange recently. And Carlos understood—it was a lot to get used to. 

The food alone was overwhelming. His body had only barely adjusted to having three square meals a day, let alone his mind. When they first reached Auradon, the four of them had eaten to the point of sickness, and still hoarded food in their rooms and pockets—they had never seen so much to eat, available to take whenever they pleased. Now that they knew they were staying, it had gotten better. A little.

But food was only one element. Carlos wasn’t sure about the girls, but he and Jay hadn’t slept in their beds for the first two weeks—Jay slept under his  _ (“like a monster in a story” Carlos had joked, and immediately regretted it when Jay nodded seriously),  _ and Carlos curled up in the wardrobe. They were far too accustomed to sleeping on the floor of a shop and in a fur closet, respectively, to feel comfortable sleeping on a soft, open bed right away. 

The biggest, most jarring difference in Auradon was the people. They were….kind. Ben never seemed to run out of patience or charm, Lonnie was tough without being mean, and even Audrey had softened since the coronation. Sure, there were assholes, but they paled in comparison to the ones on the Isle. Chad made snide comments, sure, but it was hard to take him seriously—he didn’t punch people randomly in the hallway, or force kids to eat live spiders at knifepoint, as was routine for ‘bullies’ on the Isle. 

So Carlos felt for Jay, and he wanted his best friend to know that. Jay had a habit of retreating into himself if he, well,  _ felt  _ too strongly, and Carlos could see it happening. He wanted to pull him out—he loved hanging out with Jay, and didn’t want to lose that, even temporarily, because he was in Auradon Shock. 

Ok, so he had a bit of a crush. So what? Evie once told him you’re not really friends if you haven’t thought about them naked. And Jay was funny, and just a little stupid, and had really nice hair—what was Carlos supposed to do? Ignore all that? But he also loved being friends with Jay—they had been since they were eight. They were good at being friends. Carlos didn’t even think Jay liked guys—he’d only ever talked about girls, and Carlos had only ever talked about guys. And they did talk to each other about that stuff, although on the Isle it was less “I really like her” and “He asked me out” and more “check out what I swiped from her after we hooked up” and “He’s an asshole, but I really didn’t want to go home”. 

Admittedly, his feelings had intensified a bit when they came to Auradon—Jay came out of his shell, let himself get excited about things, let himself laugh more. It was cute. It was hot. But Carlos was, if he did say so himself, an expert at pushing away unrealistic expectations. He kept being friends with Jay, and in the locker rooms made out with a guy whose dad fought with Lonnie’s mom. The world kept turning.

Presently, Jay gave a dramatic groan and face planted into his homework. “Carlooooos,” he whined. “Do this for me.” 

“No.”

“I can’t get it!”

“You can understand it fine, you just have the attention span of a newborn dragon.”

“Oooh,  _ someone’s  _ been paying attention in ‘Magical Beasts’”. Jay spun his chair around to face Carlos, who was lying on his bed with Dude beside him, idly scratching his ears and doodling on his own, completed homework. Jay put on a ridiculous, high-pitched voice and said “Your best friend is being viciously attacked by an unreasonable amount of homework-”

“It’s one page!” Carlos was already laughing at the impression. Jay continued, speaking over him. “Do you  _ A) _ be a total dick and do nothing,  _ B) _ have a heart and do it for him-”

“I’m gonna go with C, beat him with a tourney stick for being so dramatic.” Carlos interrupted, still laughing. “Look, I’ll help you out, not that you need it. I gotta shower first though, I’ve been chasing Dude around all afternoon.” He stripped off his shirt as he passed Jay on the way into the bathroom—he didn’t really  _ need _ to shower, but he still wasn’t used to all the immediate hot water, and strong pressure, and he loved it. 

Jay had suddenly gone quiet, and fixed his gaze back on his homework studiously. Carlos frowned. Maybe he was more stressed about it then he let on—no one really cared if they completed assignments on the Isle, but teachers here were much more observant. 

“Hey, you’ll do fine. And if you can’t, it’s not your fault! They’re teachers, they should’ve explained it better.” 

“No, you were right.” Jay seemed to be looking anywhere except at Carlos, who still had his shirt balled up in his hand. “I do get it, it’s just….hard to keep concentrating.” 

Carlos nodded and continued into the bathroom. It was nice to be in a school where teachers cared, where they noticed when you did assignments. It also sucked to be in a system that set up certain kids to fail. He closed the bathroom door behind him and thought he heard Jay let out a breath. 




The next morning, Jay was about to leave early for tourney practice. He was stuffing homework in his bag haphazardly, which gave Carlos anxiety just to look at. Carlos took a deep breath. He wasn’t great at talking about feelings, after a lifetime of being trained against it, but he could do this. It was just Jay.

“Hey, Jay?”

“Yeah?”

“I noticed you’ve been acting a little, uh, weird. Recently.”

Jay stopped moving and turned to look at him. He seemed frozen for a moment, and then turned defensive. “No, I haven’t.”

“You have! I asked Mal and Evie about it—”

“You what?!”

“—and they told me, y’know, what’s going on with you.”

Jay gaped at him for a moment. “They….did?” 

“I mean I kind of suspected, but yeah. It’s no big deal, man. I mean, I feel the same way.” 

“You…. what?” Jay looked…. Carlos couldn’t quite read him. Shocked? Hopeful? He wasn’t sure why it was so hard to believe they were both struggling—they’d grown up on the aisle together.

“Yeah, of course! Anyway, I thought we could hang out tonight—grab a frozen pizza from the kitchen instead of going to the dining hall, watch a movie together, just us.” Pizza (even frozen) and movies (ones that didn’t skip and came in color and HD) were still delicacies to them. But hanging out and laughing like idiots was familiar, and Carlos thought it might alleviate some tension.

Jay looked like someone had just hit him with a magic wand. Or a brick. “Uh, yeah, man! Yeah, that sounds, uh, good.” He grabbed his disaster of a bag and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m gonna, uh, go. To practice. I’ll, uh, see you…. tonight?” 

Carlos grinned. Jay had reacted more enthusiastically to a guy’s night then he’d expected. Maybe he’d missed them just hanging out—Carlos had. “See you, man.” 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeheehee.......misunderstandings. i decided to make this three chapters instead, keep an eye out for the final one! kudos n comment if you liked (or want to yell at me)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realizations are realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yoooo last chap! sorry it took so long i suck at endings

“So you’re a jock.” Carlos grinned, nudging Jay’s shoulder. “How predictable.” Jay laughed, finishing a bite of pizza and licking the grease from his fingers (which did not turn Carlos on, even a little). “What can I say?” He replied. “Turns out I’m good at stuff besides stealing.” 

“I could’ve told you that.” Carlos said. They were sitting on the floor with their backs against the couch. They had just finished a second movie, and Carlos had just broken into his chocolate supply. He swallowed a piece and made what he was sure was a disgusting noise. “Fuck! I think this is my favorite thing about Auradon.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Jay said, teasing. “Not the hot showers, real beds, lack of murderers everywhere?” 

“Nope!” Carlos shook his head, grinning. “All that pales in comparison to chocolate.” He sucked on his chocolate covered finger before amending, “Actually, though, I like that there’s more time like this. To just hang out.” On the Isle, stealing food, following their parents orders, and being generally cruel and nefarious took up a lot of time. Carlos, Jay, Evie, and Mal had more time here just to talk to each other, to be with each other. 

“Yeah,” Jay said, toying with a chocolate wrapper Carlos had discarded. “Yeah, I like, um, hanging out. With…” He seemed to struggle with his words. He had never been the most forthcoming or talkative person, especially when it came to feelings. Carlos tried to help him out. 

“With Mal, and Evie? And me, of course. Especially me.” Carlos joked, but Jay didn’t laugh. He tore his gaze from his lap and looked right at Carlos. 

“Yeah. Especially you.”

And then Jay’s hands were on the back of his neck, and his mouth was pressed against him, and Jay was kissing him. It was a soft, open-mouthed kiss, and Carlos vaguely registered pizza grease on Jay’s lips. Then it was over. 

“Uh,” Carlos said eloquently. The first thing he thought of was the feeling he got when he heard they were leaving the Isle. It was something he had thought about, sure, everyone on the Isle wanted to leave—but it was so far fetched, such an impossible pipe dream, that there was no point thinking too hard about it—you could drive yourself crazy. And then it happened. In real life. 

That’s what kissing Jay felt like. But way, way, better. Or, well, being kissed by Jay. Carlos had been so taken aback, and it had ended so quickly, that he hadn’t really reciprocated. Now Jay was watching him carefully, with an expression Carlos had only seen on him a few times—nervousness. 

Before he could overthink it, Carlos grabbed a handful of Jay’s shirt and, this time, kissed him enthusiastically. 

This kiss was longer, with more tongue and hands. When they pulled away (after a few minutes, or hours, or something), they were both breathing hard. 

•

“Wow.” Jay said, and Carlos laughed. Carlos, who had just kissed him. Who liked him back. Jay felt a little high. 

“Wow”.” He agreed. “That was, uh…unexpected.” Jay raised his eyebrows. 

  
  


“What, you thought I wouldn’t kiss on the first date? I haven’t gone completely Auradonian.” Truth be told, he probably wouldn’t have had the courage if Carlos hadn’t already said he liked Jay too. But he had— “I mean I kind of suspected, but yeah. It’s no big deal, man. I mean, I feel the same way.” Jay had been rather taken aback by his casual attitude, but maybe he had read his demeanor wrong—he’d never been great with stuff like that.

Except Carlos had stopped smiling. “Date?” He asked. “Is this a date?” 

Jay suddenly felt very sober. His stomach dropped. “Well, um. Well, you found out I liked you. And you said you liked me back. And then, um, you asked to hang out so I thought…” Jay trailed off. He had been watching Carlos’s face while he spoke, and he didn’t think Carlos had ever looked so bewildered. 

“When did this happen? What?” 

“You-you said you talked to Evie and Mal! You said they told you… what was ‘going on with me’!” Jay made air quotes rather frantically. He had replayed this conversation enough times—did he hallucinate the whole thing?

“Yeah…” Carlos said slowly. “I asked Evie and Mal why you were acting weird, and they said because it’s a stressful, y’know, transition. Being in Auradon. So I thought you might want a night off from everything.”

Jay thought to himself that he should consider a beauty spell, because at this point even he wasn’t good-looking enough to make up for this level of pure stupidity. Of course Mal and Evie wouldn’t out him like that. Of course they covered for him with an innocuous excuse. And then he immediately blew his own cover. Yeah, definitely a beauty spell. It was too late for his brains.

Beside him, Carlos was combing through their conversation earlier in the day. “So you told Mal and Evie that you… like me?”

“They forced it out of me!”

“I like you too.” Carlos spoke quietly but clearly, in contrast to Jay’s frantic and defensive tone. He had always been so much better at this stuff—telling the truth, saying how he felt. 

Jay probably should’ve known that—Carlos had kissed him back, after all—but it was still a relief to hear. He kissed Carlos again, firmly and quickly. 

“So…” Carlos grinned as he pulled back. “You have a crush on me? That’s embarrassing.” 

Jay elbowed him in the ribs. “You just said you like me too!”

“Well, at least I’m not gushing to Mal and Evie about how beautiful my eyes are.”

“I do not ‘gush’! And who said anything about your eyes?” 

They had both dissolved into laughter and halfhearted wrestling. Carlos suddenly say bolt upright as if something had just occurred to him. 

“So this was, like, our first date?” He asked, looking around as if just noticing their surroundings. “I wish I’d known—I would’ve dressed better.”

Jay laughed. “There will be other…opportunities…for you to wear, uh, date clothes? Right?”

Carlos raised his eyebrows at him for a second before shoving his shoulder and laughing. “You’re such an idiot!” He snorted, and then leaned back against the couch. He rested his head on Jay’s shoulder. 

“Yes, stupid. There will be other opportunities.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos/comment if you liked :)

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed!! sorry there wasn’t much Carlos—he’s coming in the next chap. pls comment if you liked it 😊


End file.
